title: Down-regulated CK8 expression in human intervertebral disc degeneration.
abstract: As an intermediate filament protein, cytokeratin 8 (CK8) exerts multiple cellular functions. Moreover, it has been identified as a marker of notochord cells, which play essential roles in human nucleus pulposus (NP). However, the distribution of CK8 positive cells in human NP and their relationship with intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) have not been clarified until now. Here, we found the percentage of CK8 positive cells in IDD (25.7±4.14%) was significantly lower than that in normal and scoliosis NP (51.9±9.73% and 47.8±5.51%, respectively, p<0.05). Western blotting and qRT-PCR results confirmed the down-regulation of CK8 expression in IDD on both of protein and mRNA levels. Furthermore, approximately 37.4% of cell clusters were CK8 positive in IDD. Taken together, this is the first study to show a down-regulated CK8 expression and the percentage of CK8 positive cell clusters in IDD based upon multiple lines of evidence. Consequently, CK8 positive cells might be considered as a potential option in the development of cellular treatment strategies for NP repair.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 Changle Western Road, Xi'an, P R China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Hai-Qiang
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhi-Heng
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Yu-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yong-Zhao
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wei-Lin
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Zhong-Yuan
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Che
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Dino
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Samartzis
authors.forename: Zhuo-Jing
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D017931:DNA Primers; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D055959:Intervertebral Disc Degeneration / Q000235:genetics*; D053533:Keratin-8 / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D053533:Keratin-8
keywords: Immunofluorescence; cell clusters; cytokeratin 8; intervertebral disc degeneration; nucleus pulposus; qRT-PCR.